My dear Renee…And that’s the kind of love that keeps going on after 42 years!!! I would so much love to read your insights into love and marriage. I can’t think of a better person to write on these important topics than you. A very big hug, Shaz

Dear Angela! (yes, now I know your name!!) I’m so glad to find another admirer of Hafiz and Rumi!!! I’m fascinated with all things Persian (my husband being half Persian) :D And reading these works sometimes feel like I’m reading divinely inspired texts…Thank you and sending many warm wishes your way, Shaz

Oh Angela, her story stayed with me at the back of my mind the whole day. I get easily affected by the suffering of another especially when it involves a child. I’m actually heartbroken and I cry for a lost childhood. Yet, how this champion of life has not only survived but make such a living triumph of her grim circumstances is inspiring. She has more clarity and awareness than most people I know. Thanks Angela. I know you feel the same in your heart for cruelties done to another helpless being. Hugs, Shaz

Dearest Shaz,
You said what my heart was too filled to the brim to say. I have been thinking about her story, too, and the horror upon horror that could not, in the end, ground down the triumph of love within her. She embodies for me the triumph of loving grace. But, although it took me a while to get there, I feel compassion for him, too. Only someone who feels unfathomable self-loathing, immeasurable shame, and darkness beyond all recall of the faintest hint of light could mock and torture God’s creations so cruelly. He must have suffered unfathomable humiliations to become so brutally, vengefully, and rebelliously convinced of his own evil. I feel for her, for him, for the person or persons who made him suffer, and for every one of the Angels that she bears witness to. Ah, Shaz…I lost sleep on this one last night…Hugs, Angela

Hey Sharon, so your back with a bang! You were missed these few days that went without reading your posts! It’s such a nice and true piece of poetry and the snap itself is reflecting so much light! God gives us food, breaths, sleep, without even asking.His love is the most unconditional one.What will He bless us with, if we ask him?

Hello my dear!! Oh it’s good to know I’ve been missed :D Thank you so much for writing. I usually post once a week, sometimes twice. I am reading Hafiz and Rumi and they give me goosebumps literally! Some poets seem to be almost divinely inspired. I love what you said above. Even before we know what to ask, He has already provided it to us out of His lovingkindness. It reminds me also of this verse in the Holy Quran. “And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.” What can be more reassuring that this? Much love, Shaz

Yeah that’s practically true!I don’t get much time for reading now, but i also love reading Rumi.haven’t read much of Hafiz, but i have to now :) But here’s a nice piece by Umar Khayam,do read his pieces too:

All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
And I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I’ll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I’m like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
But who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn’t come here of my own accord, and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

This poetry. I never know what I’m going to say.
I don’t plan it.
When I’m outside the saying of it, I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

We have a huge barrel of wine, but no cups.
That’s fine with us. Every morning we glow
And in the evening we glow again.

My dear one, thank you for this penetrating writing of Umar Khayam…I will surely look up more of his works too. Do share this one on your blog. I’m sure it will be greatly appreciated by others too! Thank you again for sharing this with me! Hugs xx

What a beautiful poem! A love like that lights up the whole sky! In the same ligne, do you know the game of the sun? I like to pay it sometimes – it is very simple: you walk in the street, catch people’s eyes and .. smile. In the West, it wasn’t really working because strangers are always suspicious but in Vietnam or India, you really feel like the sun opening blossoms of smiles. I am sure you play it often and very well! With love from both of us, frederic

Hello Frederic and how very lovely to hear from you!!! My deepest apologies for not being in touch for so long. I hope you have been well and making great progress with your tasks at hand. Thank you so much for visiting. Your observation is most accurate and sometimes I do feel that the biggest challenge here in the West is a spiritual barreness. Somedays I find that even more difficult than coping with the lack of material progress found in some other countries. It is true that I have felt most alive in some of the poorest places. For what can nourish the soul better than just a simple extension of human kindness through a smile. I like the imagery of the sun opening blossoms of smiles. Thank you both dearly for your friendship which have nourished me like a shower of fresh, gentle rain in summer. All my love, Sharon

Our dear Sharon … we start to miss you you know! We have been talking about you often with Mona and sharing about your warm and sunlike love and how it feels like it heralds an era of new relationships for us. I feels that our ancient aspiration to belong to a family of people who live their life on the basis of love and conscience and spirituality is coming to life – although still facing some obstacles and delays etc. Yes, the West has that spiritual bareness and this is why we left. I was never able to live there as something was always missing of what I know os true life – the simple and meaningful one. But India is another story … a very long one. Rich, alive, colorful and rooted in spirituality – although the big brother of mindless consumerism is making a real hit here now! – but it is so raw and rough in many aspects! And sometimes we feel a little rest in the cool comfort of Western life would be a real treat! And your photos and comments participate to the emergence of this thought! Asia has a dimension of loving kindness that is missing here as tradition, passion, survival and the absolute tend to dominate the game of life. Anyway … and we will also not tire saying how happy we are to have ‘met’ you. With pure love, frederic

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Daily Reminders

Take responsibility for your own life.
Create no more suffering.
Practise Stillness.
Live in the Now.
Breathe deeply.
Surrender.
Cultivate contentment.
Hold on to negative emotions like a piece of hot coal in your hand...let it go.
Let gratitude well up and spill over.
Be infinitely kind to others...and to yourself.
Make today better than yesterday.
Forgive.
The secret of self-mastery is self-forgetfulness.
See God in every tree, every leaf, every flower, every person.
Get to bed by 10.30 every night!